Maybe it’s just a routine scheduling snafu, or confusion about whether a campaign is having a “private event.” Perhaps the gentleman in the tie-dyed overalls is in the wrong, or perhaps the Merkley staffers are being a little too brusque in keeping people out of the event.

But it probably doesn’t help Sen. Jeff Merkley, Oregon Democrat, if seniors are getting turned away from his events, and leaving pretty irked that they’ve been asked to leave: